Monday, November 02, 2009

How to buy a vote

If you are in a close race and election day arrives and you still need some more votes, you ask yourself: how much does a vote cost? From Hoboken, New Jersey, we have an answer: $10. John Fund explains the details:

In 2007, a former Hoboken zoning board president noticed a group of men outside a polling place being given index cards by two people. One of the loiterers later tried to vote in the name of a voter who had moved out of the area. When challenged by the former zoning board president, he ran out of the building and was caught. He later admitted to police he was part of a group from a homeless shelter who had been paid $10 each to vote using the names of other people.

Of course, if you want to avoid the risk of the derelicts getting caught like that, absentee ballots seem to be the preferred method for modern vote fraud, as explained below.

UPDATE with new lower price: The Ohio state Democratic party chairman is trying to put a stop to Athens County Democratic Party Chair Susan Gwinn's alleged attempt to pay students $5 to vote. Athens County authorities are investigating while a spokesman for Ohio University College Democrats denies misconduct.